Rite of Spring
by gracklenaught
Summary: "You know, all the monsters you killed got to watch you dance, but I never did. All I could do is watch through your eyes as you killed them," they laugh "not that that wasn't enjoyable in its own right. But now I want to see what all the fuss was about, so why don't you show me? Dance for me."


AN: So I came up with the idea for this au, and the idea of that ballet Rite of Spring was in my mind when I came up with it, so I wrote this because making someone dance themselves to death seems like something Chara might do but i don't know jack about dancing so the description probably isn't the best, welp

Frisk doesn't speak in this, make of that what you will

Enjoy, and remember, feedback is always appreciated

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"Interesting," the demon says, grinning with a mouthful of knives and a face entirely too similar to your own "You want to go back. Back to the world you destroyed."

A shiver of guilt races down your spine as they laugh. They're right, you did destroy the world. You had won everyone their happiness time and time again, but it still hadn't been enough. Not enough to satisfy you, not enough to make you want to move on. No, not nearly enough.

Even after being their hero so many times, even after proving your worth you still couldn't shake the feeling…The feeling that once you returned to the surface everything would be back to the way it was before. The feeling that you would make everything horrible once again… After all wasn't it your fault your family hated you so? You were afraid that if they spent enough time with you all you great friends would hate you too. And not even saving them all a thousand times over was enough to convince you otherwise. You still weren't ready to return to the surface, to return to humanity…

The first time you left the ruins to complete the adventure it was due to some misguided notion that you had to go back to the surface, that you had no other choice. But as you got closer and closer to the barrier you started to realize that maybe you didn't want to go back, but by then you felt like you had to, you'd come too far to back down now. And when you made it through that first time, with Asgore's dust still on you, and Flowey dead… that call from Sans convinced you you couldn't leave things as they were. And when you discovered how to make everyone happy and free them, well you kept doing that because it felt good to be a hero, and even with that promising future looming ahead of you, you just weren't ready to move on.

You did it over and over and over again, resetting everything to when you first fell, making friends with and saving everyone again and again. But then… then you got bored. You still weren't ready to move on, but you needed a thrill, something different.

So when a little voice in your head whispered 'Why don't you try something different? Why don't you kill everyone?' you listened.

The last time you reset you started wandering around the ruins tracking down every froggit, whimsum, moldsmall, loox, and vegetoid, killing each and every one of them until the ruins were empty and eerily silent. The dances you had once used to mystify and amaze them while you avoided their attacks instead bent to slip under their guard and strike them until they fell. You felt your execution points and LOVE increase as you killed more and more, a feeling you had forgotten from the first time you lived through this, before you knew to spare everyone in order to save everyone.

Everything started to change, Napstablook just vanished when they saw you, and even the ambient music that only you seemed to be able to hear became a quiet and gloomy a shadow of its former self.

At first you felt bad about killing the monsters you used to befriend, but as you killed more of them that feeling faded. The last time you really felt any remorse was when you killed Toriel, you had felt something stir inside your soul before you attacked and the amount of damage it caused surprised you. But you forgot your surprise when she looked at you and asked if you really hated her so much. When she said she was protecting everyone else by keeping you here it made you sick to your stomach, it hurt that she was right. But even though you felt bad you were too far gone to stop now.

The rest of the journey was a blur, you killed everyone. The happy places you remembered empty, because of you, the happy faces, gone. But you didn't care, hardly a twinge of regret when you killed Papyrus, only frustration from being killed by Undyne endlessly and immense satisfaction when she too fell to your twirls. And even Sans… he almost pulled you out of it, when he offered mercy even after you ignored his warnings and killed his brother.

You accepted and you almost reset after he killed you and told you that if you really were friends you wouldn't come back, but something stopped you. You didn't know what then but now you realize, the one who pushed you through that horrible path, the one who wouldn't let you go back even when you desperately wanted to, the one who guided your hand in destroying the world, the creature standing right in front of you now.

They're standing there, mimicking your posture and staring right into your eyes as if they were your reflection in some endless mirror. You could only catch a glimpse of them behind your eyes through the mirror in New Home and the monitor in Alphy's lab. Now you can see them in their entirety, and their eerie fanged smile is sure to star in many nightmares to come.

"You just can't leave them alone can you? Can't let them live out their lives when they're happy or let them enjoy their rest when they're dead," they shake their head mockingly "Can't say I understand, but if you want to go back I'll oblige... for a price..."

The words send shivers down your spine. But as much as they unsettle you all you want is to go back, you just want to reset and make everyone happy again and forget you destroyed the world, so you swallow your fear and wait for them to name their price.

"Despite everything, there's still something I want and you've got it. Give it to me and I will bring back the world. Do we have a deal?"

You have a sinking feeling they don't want anything in your inventory; still you can't leave things as they are. Whatever they want you will have to give, you decide, you can't leave all your friends dead in nonexistence. So you steel your nerves, nod your head, and resist the urge to gulp when they smile slow and large.

"Then we're agreed, you'll give me your soul, and I'll bring back the world," you nod again and they laugh in satisfaction, the sound echoes through the nothingness surrounding you.

"Good, good, but just taking your soul would be no fun would it?"

They take a step towards you, red eyes flashing and you step back, wanting to stay as far from them as possible. They don't seem to care, stopping and rubbing their chin thoughtfully with their claw tipped fingers.

"But how to make it more interesting…?" they wonder, mostly for show you're sure. You have a feeling this demon always knows what they want before they even bring it up. "Hmm… I know!" they bring their hand down, snapping and slicing open the skin on one of their fingers. They don't seem to notice, a drop of blood drips down to the nonexistent floor.

"You like to dance don't you?" you freeze at the question, it's purely rhetorical you know, they were in your head; they know that you love to dance. Dancing was the only good thing from your life on the surface. The only constant in your life now, wherever you were, wherever you went you were sure to dance. Dancing to avoid bullets, dancing, just for fun in places with particularly good ambient music, dancing to cut through your victim's defenses before you struck them down.

"You're quite good at it too if I recall," that was an understatement, as your dancing skills carried on with you through each reset you just kept getting better and better at it until now you were actually an excellent dancer. Your dances are enough to impress and mystify just about anyone in the underground.

"You know, all the monsters you killed got to watch you dance, but I never did. All I could do is watch through your eyes as you killed them," they laugh "not that that wasn't enjoyable in its own right. But now I want to see what all the fuss was about, so why don't you show me? Dance for me."

You're trembling by now, both from all the demon has said as well as the sudden chill down your spine, and you hesitate. Your feet still feel sore from the battle with Sans and you're not exactly sure how serious the demon is. They just watch you, smiling still, blood still dripping from their hand, falling and falling.

"Well? What are you waiting for? You want this world back don't you?" you jerk from their sudden demand and you nod again even though you're not sure if they actually want an answer "Then start dancing, and don't stop until I'm satisfied, then and only then can you have your world back." Again it laughs, knowing you don't want to, not here, not for them, but you have no choice, so you take a deep breath and start to dance.

Your dance stretches from minutes, to hours, to what seems like and might have actually been days, and still the demon isn't satisfied. The silence is more noticeable now. Whenever you danced in the underground whether you were fighting or just taking a break to dance for fun there was always music. Here, there is nothing but the silence of the void, and you hate it.

You spend the time forcing yourself to stay on your feet, even though they ache and might even be bleeding by now, and trying to avoid looking at the demon forcing you to do this. When you start to falter you think of your friends, all they have done for you in timeline after timeline and their happy faces, their hopes and dreams, eventually it seems that only your determination is keeping you from collapsing. But as the time wears on even that stops being enough, your steps slow and start to falter, your eyes start to droop with exhaustion, and still the demon shows no signs of being appeased.

Each time your feet fall the squishy wetness in your shoes make sickening, barely audible squelching noises from your blood-soaked soles and it sickens you. But when you catch glimpses of the demon, despite your best efforts, they haven't appeared to have moved at all, still standing in the same place with the same expression, besides their eyes following you as you dance they remain perfectly still.

Time continues to drag on and you find it more and more difficult to keep moving. Despite your determination you feel numb, and your legs are as heavy as lead. You're on the verge of collapse, still the demon says nothing.

They let you keep dancing until your legs give out from under you and you fall. But you never hit the floor, before you can they whip forward and stop your fall, taking your wrist and using it to hold you up

"Now, now, do you really think you can stop just yet? I said to dance until I was satisfied, and I am far from satisfied," your arm hurts, the entirety of your weight is being held up with it and to make matters worse the demon is digging its claws into your skin "but it seems your weak human body wants to quit, and here I thought you'd have more determination," they shake their head, chuckling at their own sick joke "so I guess I'll just have to help you stay on your feet won't I?"

Their grip on your wrist tightens and they finally drag you up to your feet. Your knees are shaking, but somehow you stay up. Finally they let go of your wrist, extracting their blood covered claws from your skin and shaking their hand to throw off some of it, it flies off into the void disappearing without a sound into the area serving as the floor. Mockingly the demon bows and offers you their blood covered hand

"May I have this dance?" they ask, smiling their chainsaw smile as if you have any choice. You nod and take their hand tentatively, not sure it just won't pull you closer and tear out your throat, they grin.

They straighten and step closer, letting go of your hand and putting theirs on you in preparation to waltz, one on your shoulder and the other on your waist. You follow suit and then they start to move, dragging you into this dance. Their claws are digging into your shoulder and side and even though it hurts you're glad for it because it's keeping you awake.

You're barely keeping up with the demon but they seem fine with this, starting to drag you along with them when you start to lose energy. They start to switch to more energetic dances in an effort to keep jerking you awake, they twirl you and dip you and eventually just swing you around like a ragdoll. But even that stops being enough to keep you aware.

Everything starts to get darker and it becomes harder and harder to breathe, you feel colder than you ever did in Snowdin. Then the demon just drops you, right on the floor, with no warning

"Well, it looks like you're giving out aren't you?" they laugh from above you somewhere, just a fuzzy blot of color in your sight. A little longer and you can't see them anymore, their words sound distant "This is enough for me, I suppose. When you wake the world will be again, just like you wanted, like you'd just reset. Of course I'll be there too, along for the ride. Just think of me as a permanent roommate, sharing your head-space with you, it'll be fun!"

Another laugh sounds and finally fades away, and then, there is nothing.

You jerk awake lying on your back, surrounded by yellow flowers. You feel alive again, none of the numbness or exhaustion you felt previously, everything is fine. Still, you can still feel the memory of pain from your feet on the edge of your nerves like it's pressing out from inside your body. And in the back of your mind, you can feel the demon looking out through your eyes. They don't say anything, content to just watch for now but you can sense them there and it reminds you of everything you did and everything you could do. You feel sick.

Tears start to slip out of your eyes and you're forced to close them as everything becomes fuzzy again. You bring your knees up and tuck them under your chin as you cry, you don't move for a long time.


End file.
